A panel in the Senate Tuesday also approved two of the bills, with senators taking their votes by private ballot rather than in an open committee meeting. Republicans approved those two bills on party-line 3-2 votes.

Walker and GOP lawmakers have said the bills will shift more welfare recipients into the workforce at a time when unemployment is at the historic low of 3%. Critics say the bills will be costly to implement and less effective than using the money for programs like training for workers or public transportation to get them to jobs.

In addition to the ongoing costs, the bills would also require millions of dollars in startup costs.

Walker is pushing for a series of welfare bills, including requiring able-bodied parents of children on food stamps to work or get training to receive more than three months of benefits and increasing the existing work requirement for all able-bodied adults from 20 hours a week to 30.

This existing FoodShare requirement — proposed by Walker in 2013 and implemented in 2015 — has led so far to about 3.5 recipients losing benefits for every one who secured a job through the program. It's not known whether the recipients who lost benefits found jobs later.